azazael | Locked to readvondaniken

Azazael always found joy in his duties. These kind, the gifts, were always the best. The King had sent him to fetch a human who was to receive the blessing of the court. He waited patiently in the Nexus Plaza for the human he had met only recently. It occurred to Azazael as he waited that few angels in the Nexus walked with exposed wings. Maybe only those of his creation did? He was watching the people in the plaza. Palmer's shop was somewhere around, nearby but Azazael wasn't sure where. Instead of looking, he sat on one of the benches in the plaza enjoy the sunny autumn day, people watching while he waited.

Current Mood: chipper

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Oh - hello, Azazael. What's bringin' you here?"

Luckily, it doesn't take the mechanic long. Palmer's off work pretty soon, and the Plaza's one of the places he visits on the regular. There's a lot do do there. Palmer likes having things to do - an important distinction from having to do things.

Palmer brightens when he sees a familiar face - he hadn't caught up with the fallen angels after the party. He'd spent the next day or so resting off the hangover he had from hanging out between Lucifer's and Furiosa's crew.

"I haven't seen you since the party. That was fun." He joins him on the bench. "So...is it somethin' to do with Lucifer?"

It might be hard to believe but even some of the angels had been laid up for the days after the party... for various reasons whether it was indulging in too much fun at the party or they had dragged the party into other spaces when the bonfires were all put out. For that matter he hadn't seen Lucifer since the party either, Azazael could imagine why given the King;s drunkenness.

"Palmer." The angel brightens and comes out of his blank staring when he's spoken to. "We've been recovering, or still partying for some of us. The king asked me to bring you to him."

"Me?" Palmer puts a hand on his heart, genuinely surprised. "I mean, why me? I mean..." He knew they were friends, or at least he thought of Lucifer as a friend, and he'd offered his services as a spy in the Nexus. Maybe that has something to do with it. He made a deal with Lucifer, after all.

"I mean, I'm honored. How do I get there?" Palmer's thinking in the back of his head that he'll have a really great comeback next time Windows or somebody else tells him to go to Hell. "I don't exactly know the way. PINpoint?"

"He didn't say." Azazael shrugged. He knew it had something to do with a gift but beyond that he wasn't privy to knowledge.

"Walk, or fly." Azazael shook his head. "Lucifer's PINpoint takes you to his altar here in the Nexus. You can't PINpoint to Chaos. Lucifer blocked it for everyone's safety."

Azazael pulled a leather thong out of his pocket with a single, long, black feather hanging from it. There was tiny writing down the vein of the feather in golden ink that looked vaguely script like but was certainly not English, nor any human language. The feather looked like the night sky, pitch black and oddly as if it was twinkling with stars. "You'll have to wear this or the fire'll kill you when we get there. Don't take it off until you're back in the Nexus."

"Oh! A surprise." Palmer smiles when he's told that. "I like surprises." He's curious about exactly what it is.

He's understanding as he takes the feather and puts it on, like the angel warned. First he makes sure it's fastened on tightly, so it doesn't fall off. There's probably things in Chaos that Lucifer wouldn't want getting out, given the nature of the place. It's a very pretty feather, he has to admit, between the writing and the twinkling.

He considers what he's been told. "Okay. Walk, or fly. I can't fly - I've got no no wings - so I guess I gotta walk."

"Lucifer's always surprising someone." Azazael has a cheeky grin. It was true, sometimes the surprises were good, other times bad. It all depended on whether he liked the person or not.

He notices Palmer fiddling with the necklace and shakes his head. "It can't fall off or be taken off of you. Once on only you can take it off."

Azazael shrugged. "Unless I carry you. The walk isn't far."

"That's good. So I don't have to worry as long as I leave it in place." So there's no risk it'll slip off and he'll get killed. Chaos sounds like a pretty rough place.

Palmer smiles. He's hoping it's a good surprise, though he can't guess what it would be.

"I'm guessin' 'carrying me' would mean flying, right? Think I'll take that option. Haven't flown since I was in one of those choppers back home." It isn't often Palmer actually got to pilot, since he was seen as less reliable than MacReady.

"It prevents accidents." Azazael nodded.

"Yes." Thankfully Palmer wasn't too big or it could get awkward since Azzael was one of the smaller angels. "We can leave whenever you're ready.

"That's good. We don't want accidents." Palmer stops fiddling with the necklace anyway.

He's not a big man - he's tall, but lanky and relatively light in build. "Never flown by angel before. I'm ready to go now, if that works for you."

Azazael opened his wings, stretching them and shaking them out but then paused. "Do you get motion sick?"

He was curious. It wouldn't stop them from flying. He could make it smooth if he wanted but he could also get crazy fly if his passenger was up for it. Either way, he gives Palmer a few moments and then tucks his arms under Palmer's and very easily lifts off the ground. Slow, and stable flight to start out with so as not to startle his passenger.

"Nah. I was a helicopter pilot back in my world. You don't go into that line of work if you get motion sick easily." Palmer's got his share of issues, but that's not one of them. He relaxes, enjoying the flight. It's been too long since he's been in the air, and this is very different from flying a helicopter.

"You're a good flyer." He can't help but give a compliment. "You do this kind of job often?"

With Palmer relaxed he picks up speed, though he can't fly his usual speed or the human wouldn't be able to breathe.

"I'm the king's messenger and herald. Even in Heaven I was. I've flown all over the universe."

he can't help but make the flight fun with a few barrel rolls, dives, and other stunts. Travel shouldn't be boring.

"No wonder you're so good at it. Lots of practice."

Joking aside, Palmer has to enjoy the flight. It feels different from being on board a helicopter.

He'd also agree with the sentiment that travel shouldn't be boring. He has a feeling that Chaos won't be, either.

"I'm around ten billion years old." Azazael comments as he shifts their direction out toward the wilds. "The others are a lot older."

Chaos was home, it didn't seem as bleak as it once did. He wondered how a human would view his home.

"Ten billion years old, huh?" Palmer chuckles. "I'm only twenty-seven. We humans don't last too long."

Palmer's used to Antarctica after working there long enough. Chaos sounds, well, on the opposite end of the spectrum as far as temperature goes.

"We know." He comments slowing to land and walk the last part of the distance. Startling the door guard wasn't something he wanted to do. "Lucifer has fell in love with a lot of humans since you were created. It always hurts him when they die."

"Ain't that great for us, either. I mean, the whole dying thing. I know, circle of life, yadda yadda, but it's not great knowing you've got a time limit. Not enough time to do everything you want, either." Palmer sighs, smiling. "Least we're not houseflies or somethin'. They've got about a month. At most. We must be fun to watch."

"Lucifer tried to convince God not to make your lives short." Azazael had landed and got Palmer back on his own feet. "Short lives give you a lot that we don't have. You remind us of things we forget because we don't die."

The young angel was rarely this reflective, but he had his moments of profound though and understanding of how others worked.

"We still live a lot longer than everything but turtles and trees." Palmer sighs. "Still not long enough, though. And aging's half of what ruins it. There's still stuff I wish I could forget."

He stands up when they both land.

"I'm guessin' we're at the right place. Chaos. Quite the name." Palmer's grateful that he was given the protective necklace. "I'm ready to go when you are."

"I don't think any amount of life is long enough." He looked to his companion a little sad. "We've been around for what might as well be forever, Lucifer's been around since before our universe existed, and we all still got lists of things we want to do."

Azazael nodded. "The door's over there. I didn't want to startle the guards."

The angel started walking. There were two angels, in all appearance similiar to Beelzebub, at least in attire with full armor and one had a flaming sword hanging off its waist belt. They were not Beelzebub though, their wings were the wrong color and size.

They stepped aside for Azazael and Palmer, pulling one of the huge iron doors open. Heat poured out like stepping from air conditioning into the desert, or perhaps more to Palmer's experience from the frigid depths of Antarctic winter to a heated room. Inside was pitch black. "Once you step in, give your eyes time to adjust. It might be hard to breathe too, the sulfur and smoke can take some getting used to. Even if the necklace protects your lungs the smell will still be there."

Azazael stepped through the door waiting for Palmer. In the dark he glowed a pale blue, enough to light up the area around him. Once Palmer is in the angels close the door shutting them in complete darkness except for the glow from the angel.

Palmer nods. "Death's everywhere - even in the Nexus. The anti-violence field doesn't protect you from everything, and sometimes it turns off. So I try and make use of what I was given."

Palmer notices the flaming sword. Yeah, that looks like a guard. He follows Azazael, trying not to seem a little intimidated.

"I mean, if you're immortal you've got more time.It must have its good points, not havin' to get sick or die."

But he stops the conversation to follow the angel in. He's grateful that he has the necklace - the smell isn't pleasant, but he's glad to hear his lungs will be protected.

He's grateful for the glow that lets him see, trying to let his eyes adjust. "So...what next? Where are we going now?"

"It might be good that Lucifer's come then? He's very protective when he takes up somewhere, and of humans in general." Azazael knew that Lucifer wouldn't let anything happen to the Nexus as a whole.

Azazael nodded. "We don't get physically sick but we get mentally and emotionally sick. I think you could kill some of the angels if you made them sad enough, hurt them enough. We're durable but we all got weaknesses."

Azazael opens his wings giving off more light for the human to see. They're on a bridge of rock wide enough for 4 or 5 people to walk next to each other. The edge of it falling down into blackness on both sides that even the angelic light won't penetrate. "Do you want to walk for awhile?"

He'd fly them but he imagined a human might be curious about what "hell" looks like. "It's a couple of miles, I think, to the palace if we fly across the Lake of Fire when we get to it instead of walking all the way around to the front."

"That's why I offered to try and let him know if anything dangerous starts here. The last time there were invaders from outside we had no warning, and never got to mount a proper defense. We never actually had a chance to fight them on even terms."

Palmer's willing to do what he can to avoid future disasters. It might not be foolproof, and Reynard at least might not take kindly to calling in powerful help, but honestly Palmer doesn't care what Reynard would think if it saves lives.

"Don't mind if I do. I've only been out of the Nexus a couple of times, so some sightseeing wouldn't hurt. But flying over the lake of fire sounds like a good idea."

Hey, it's not every day you get to visit "hell". Palmer wouldn't mind looking around a little while he's here, though he knows he's got work to do. Lucifer wants to see him, after all.

Edited Date: 2019-11-11 04:50 pm (UTC)

"If things got that bad Lucifer might empty Chaos to retaliate." He comments off hand and starts walking. "He'd protect you, but with Balthazar there he'd got to war in a heartbeat and nothing'd stop him."

He falls into a relaxed pace down the bridge. A head of them is a barren plain of ragged looking rocks. Though looking out in the distance across the abyss there are small glows moving too and fro in the distance. Those were other angels, small lights off in the distance. "It's kind of bleak here. Nothing really grows and you can't feel it but the ground and air burns us."

"He cares for Balthazar a lot, I noticed." Palmer smiles. "I know Balthazar. Not super well, but we talked a few times. He's an interestin' character, to say the least. I'm glad they hit it off."

Palmer observes the rugged plain, then the lights in the distance. He guesses human visitors like himself were rare. No wonder it burns the inhabitants. He's even more grateful for theprotective feather. "You mentioned there were creatures here. Serpents and hellhounds. I'm guessing they don't live 'round this part of Chaos."